Future Cloudy For Papua New Guinea's People And Environment

What do you call 13 days of round-the-clock wining, dining, and lavish gift-giving for political favors that culminates in consensus? In the United States it's called a caucus and it's dressed-up in Italian business suits, expense-account hotels, and deals that are sealed behind closed doors. In Papua New Guinea, it's a two week Parliamentary bender of booze, food, and late-night clubbing on an out-of-sight volcanic island. The major difference is that in the US, the politicians at least claim that they are serving the public interest. In PNG, there's not even an attempt to create an appearance that the people have anything to benefit from the political theater.

This week, PNG re-elected Michael Somare, National Alliance Party (NA), as Prime Minister for a second term. Which is to say that Members of Parliament and special interests sealed his appointment. The ballot ran for two weeks because of the inaccessibility of some of Papua New Guinea's polling stations. The highlands region of the country is so remote some villagers didn't come into contact with Europeans until the 1930s. And as with previous ballots, the election was marred by allegations of voter intimidation and irregularities, according to anti-corruption body Transparency International.

Somare said he will probably continue granting exploration licenses to mineral and fossil fuel mining companies, 15 of which were issued in the past 5 years. PNG could become the world's third-largest producer of liquefied natural gas by 2017, according to Oil Search Ltd., the nation's biggest oil producer. It currently has about 15 million tons a year of gas production capacity. And despite concerns by local communities and conservation NGOs, Nautilus Minerals, a deep sea exploration and mining corporation, is poised to begin large-scale mining efforts with ROVs off hydrothermal vent chimneys off Papua New Guinea. As I once overheard a businessman callously refer to Papua New Guinea, It's a mountain of gold and silver floating in a sea of oil.

Although rich in natural resources such as copper, timber and gas, about 37 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is 80 percent in urban areas. HIV rates are at epidemic proportions in urban zones and rates of transmission are increasing in rural areas. On all of my visits to remote villages throughout PNG, I'm always deeply moved by the national pride Papua New Guineans have for their environments and cultures. This pride stands in stark contrast to the sadness, frustration, and unfortunate resignation to the deep corruption of their political system.

Port Moresby governor and human rights lawyer Powes Parkop underscored the growing fears that running for public office in PNG is becoming the domain of the rich and affluent and beyond the reach of ordinary Papua New Guineans,

I am concerned that those with a lot of resources and money are able to influence the formation of the government…our people have the right to influence the formation of the government, we should not leave it to those people with money and power and a lot of resources.

In this concern, Papua New Guinea and the United States share more in common than one might suspect.